The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has halted a deliberate Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that falsely claimed have SEC approval, the company reported in an professional press release Thursday, Oct. 11.

The grievance via the SEC alleges that Blockvest falsely claimed that their ICO and associates had obtained approval from main monetary regulators, together with the SEC itself. Blockvest and Ringgold — who additionally is going via the identify Rasool Abdul Rahim El — claimed the crypto fund used to be “authorized and controlled.”

The companies are accused of violating federal legislation via impersonating the SEC seal, in addition to operating an ICO promoted via a faux company dubbed the “Blockchain Exchange Commission.” The “Commission” reportedly used a graphic equivalent to the SEC seal, in addition to the SEC cope with.

According to the SEC, Blockvest and Ringgold additionally violated the legislation via proceeding their fraudulent task after receiving a cease-and-desist letter via the National Futures Association (NFA).

Following the SEC’s grievance, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued an order freezing Blockvest and Ringgold’s price range in addition to postponing their securities registration provisions. The listening to is ready for Oct. 18, and can imagine prolonging the initial injunction and the asset freeze.

Other companies have tried to defraud traders via make spurious claims about their standing with federal regulators. On Sept. 28, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a go well with towards two corporations for alleged fraudulent solicitation of Bitcoin (BTC). The corporations have been additionally impersonating a CFTC investigator, in addition to the use of solid professional paperwork to pose because the the CFTC’s General Counsel with the CFTC’s professional Seal.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, and the CFTC Office of Customer Education and Outreach have issued an investor caution on using false claims relating to SEC and CFTC endorsements.

Earlier this 12 months, the SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy launched a faux ICO web site, meant to building up consciousness of the everyday caution indicators of rip-off ICOs and advertise investor schooling.